October 12, 2004
Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione met with the state media on Tuesday at the Bright Football Complex:
THE QUESTION: When you see what Oklahoma State's done and the way Les Miles has done things, do you see comparisons with the way you like to do things?
COACH FRANCHIONE: A little bit, yeah. His style of offense is probably a little different than our style. But the way they've built their program and the nice job that they've done of controlling football games and winning games, I have to say there might be a little comparison.
THE QUESTION: Is there an advantage that your team has faced several teams that like to run the ball, specifically Kansas State, going into this game?
COACH FRANCHIONE: I think there was probably some anxiety on our part going into the K-State game, just exactly how we would handle the first two back set of the year and handle Darren Sproles. So now we know that we can hold up to that. This is a better rushing attack and it's a bigger, stronger back that breaks tackles more than Darren. Darren made you miss and this guy can make you miss but he can run right through you too. So it's a little bit better rushing offense obviously, then a little bit better attack, but I don't think there's any doubt that our players on defense are all a little confidence having gone through what they have the last two weeks and had some success.
THE QUESTION: There's one thing that might be a concern is the number of offenses plays that the last two teams have run. If you do that against these guys, the outcome may not be as successful. I notice they've got a big advantage in time of possession. Do you have to make some third down stops?
COACH FRANCHIONE: If we don't, we're going to be out on the field a long time. Now, we were out on the field a long time the last two games -- one game we only gave up three points. If we aren't going to win the time of possession, we better get points with our offense and if we're able to do that, then it can balance out. But we have some guys that have played 170 snaps in the last two games and that's one reason we did not practice on Sunday this week. We just kind of jogged and worked the soreness out and watched extra film of Oklahoma State. We gave them a day to kind of recover a little bit. So I think we'll be fine going into the game. The tough part about playing them is if you don't get points in your opportunities and they hold onto the ball, you get out of rhythm like we did at K-State and you have a tough time getting back in rhythm. That's not a very good formula on the road playing a football game.
THE QUESTION: You've said your last defense at Alabama, which was No. 3 in the country, had a very good defensive line. Do you see any similarities developing with this defensive line or do they have a way to go to get to that level?
COACH FRANCHIONE: They're not to that level yet. We had three guys drafted off that defensive line. We don't have that many seniors, I don't believe, let alone draftables yet. But we have the potential in this defensive line to be like that. From my perspective as a head coach you want to be good at every position, but I feel like if you are good in the defensive line, you can pressure the quarterback without blitzing, you can control the line of scrimmage versus the run, and you free yourself up to do so many other things coverage wise with the linebackers and secondary. Last year we could never control the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball so we could never do the other things that it took for us to have a chance to win. This year we've been able to bend not break and have more control over the line of scrimmage and that's going to be vital in this game.
THE QUESTION: What are the factors of Reggie's increased performance this year.
COACH FRANCHIONE: I think No. 1 it's his junior year and he's matured and grown up. He's a better leader and he's basically in the same offense for the second year. He's pretty comfortable with what he's doing. He's a very bright young man. But just the repetition of doing it for a second straight year is pretty big and just the number of snaps that he's been able to be out there even though weren't always positive snaps necessarily has given him experience and helped him be more prepared for what he's going through this year.
THE QUESTION: Was there some point in the spring or fall that you looked at him and saw that he had progressed? You could tell that he had made the move forward.
COACH FRANCHIONE: I began to see a change in his leadership style and maturity in the spring and that carried through the summer. I think a lot of his intelligence was there last year. His supporting cast is better this year and it's letting him show it more. I don't know if there's a magic time that I've been able to say there's a big difference in him technically as a quarterback. I have a lot of confidence in him right now. For coach (Les) Koenning and I calling plays, when you have confidence in Reggie, you get out there and you're not afraid to call anything at any time because you know he's going to adjust and handle the situation well. I started to feel that way in the Wyoming game and certainly felt that way in the Clemson game and K-State games and that's a really comforting feeling because you can call that risky play and still know that 'hey, Reggie will take care of this.' When you don't have that comfortable feeling calling plays, then it's harder sometimes to do some of those things and it makes you a little more predictable and a little more difficult to accomplish things.
THE QUESTION: Has he had to check off much?
COACH FRANCHIONE: A lot of our design has minimized that. A lot of it is sight adjustments after the play. He does do a lot at the line of scrimmage with protections and running game and things like that. Sometimes when you see him walking up there he's making some calls that need to be made. I think it's probably more subtle than maybe you're used to last year.
THE QUESTION: Do you intend to put the names back on the back of the players' jerseys?
COACH FRANCHIONE: I don't know. I would say that would be up for discussion here in the few weeks, next few days. I think that's something that my heart will tell me when it's time to consider it. Or maybe the players will tell me. Nobody has brought it up. I like the way we're handling ourselves right now, the way we're coming together, the team aspect of things. It's somewhat unimportant to me at this time. If the players bring it up and it becomes important to them, then it will be more important to me.